


Ms. Bitter and Mr. Denial

by escalatorsquash999



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 02:25:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3552524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escalatorsquash999/pseuds/escalatorsquash999
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Claire and Cas part ways, it becomes clearer that they're more similar than they thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crossing thresholds

**Author's Note:**

> First fic!! Ahhh! Please comment if you like it. :)

Claire smiled at Cas, and turned in the other direction. She could feel his eyes, his sad, tired eyes follow her as she walked towards her freedom. Finally-- after years of being babied, pushed around, and commanded, Claire was free. She heard Cas open the door of his old car. The engine whirred to life from a distance, and it grew more distant as she kept walking. Where was she going to go? She had to leave, she was sure of it. But she didn't really know where to go. She supposed she'd stop at the nearest town she encountered, and decide from there. And if it didn't work out, Dean had given her an old cell phone of his. She could call them if she ever grew desperate enough. She was lost in thought, until an angry driver honked and brought her back to reality. Dazed, she stopped walking and looked around. She had reached civilization. She honestly had no idea where she was, but did it matter? The bright lights and busy streets were enticing. “Yeah, this'll do,” she thought. Her gaze fell upon a bar. Now, Claire was no stranger to bars. But this particular one was advertised for college students. Maybe hanging out with people around her age would help her feel less alone. Claire walked up to the door, where a girl was standing guard. She had short, dark pink hair and a few piercings across her face. A name tag pinned to her shirt informed Claire that her name was Leah.

"You got any ID?" Leah asked Claire.

Claire fumbled for her fake ID, and handed it to Leah. Leah took it, squinted at it, and gave it to Claire with a pop of her gum. She looked unconvinced.

"Yeah, alright." Leah said, to Claire's surprise. She opened the door, and a blast of warm air hit Claire. She stepped inside. The first thing she noticed was a stage, glittering with multicolored lights. The second thing she noticed was a girl singing into a karaoke machine on the stage. She had long, wavy black hair that matched her black jeans and her black blouse. She was singing "Hotel California" soulfully as the crowd around her swayed along with her voice. Claire stood and watched the performance for a bit. Then she directed her attention to the cute bartender in front of her.

"Hi, I'll have a beer." Claire said, sitting on a stool in front of the guy, whose name tag read "Chad".

"Sure thing." Chad grabbed one and set it in front of Claire. "You new in town? You don't look familiar."

"Yeah, I'm just passing by." Claire accepted the beer and took a gulp. Then she pointed at the stage. "So, what, is it karaoke night or whatever? I thought this was a bar for young people?" she joked.

Chad laughed. "Actually, karaoke night's huge. Everyone loves it-- especially when Alicia takes the mic."

"Alicia?" Claire asked. Chad gestured to the girl on the stage.

"Half of the people in this room are in love with her." he smiled. "Probably because she sings the classics so well."

"That so?" Claire took another sip. Someone walked to the spot next to her, and Chad turned away to help them. Claire continued drinking her beer thoughtfully, watching Alicia finish the song. "Encore!" someone called out, and the rest of the crowd started to cheer. Alicia laughed and pretended to look conflicted. After a few moments, she said, "Any requests?"

"Back in Black!" someone called out. Alicia nodded, and the track almost immediately began. Claire ditched her seat at the counter to move closer to the stage. Now that she was closer, Claire could see that Alicia's hair seemed to change color. From one angle, it was burgundy-- then she'd spin and her hair looked like a deep blue. Claire stood there and watched. Suddenly, Alicia locked eyes with her and she stood frozen. The moment quickly ended as Alicia closed her eyes and hit a high note. Claire was in a trance.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You look like you’re back from a funeral.” Dean remarked as Cas stood in the doorway of Dean’s bedroom.

“The death of my relationship with Claire? Yeah, funeral’s the right word.” Cas said, putting his hands to his face. “I tried, Dean. I tried to clean up this mess and I made it worse.”

“Hey, that’s what makes you a Winchester.” Dean said automatically. He stopped, blinked, and quickly said, “Besides, Claire’s a tough one. She’ll be okay.” Dean smiled. Cas smiled back.

“I’m going to make a sandwich. You want one?” Cas asked.

“Nah, I had a burger a while ago. You go ahead.” Cas nodded and left, closing the door gently behind him. Dean shut his laptop, pushing his 27 open tabs of Cain lore to the side. He rubbed his eyes. How long had it been since he had rested? And what had life been like without the tattoo burning constantly in his forearm? Dean let these questions swirl in his mind, and he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

 

“Dean. DEAN.” Sam’s voice pierced into his dream. “Sam, not now” Dean groaned, half-asleep. He was desperate to cling onto his dream. It was a good one-- he was sitting under the shade of a tree, eating a slice of apple pie, the kind Mary used to bake when he was younger. He was at peace. Until he woke up.

“Okay, I’m up!” Dean half-shouted. Sam jumped.

“Dinner’s ready. Cas made pasta.”

“Pasta?” Dean asked incredulously.

 

The pasta, it turned out, was really good. Dean couldn’t remember the last time he had had homemade pasta, but he sure as hell didn’t dwell on it.

“Cas. This is incredible.” Dean said, his voice muffled by a mouthful of sauce and bowties.

“Hey, I grated the cheese on that. Where’s my compliment?” Sam teased. But Cas smiled and accepted the compliment with a “Thank you, Dean.” They ate their dinner in silence after that. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable. Cas kept sneaking glances at Dean while he wasn’t looking. Dean did the same. Sam noticed this, and he looked at his idiot brother and his idiot best friend, and did his best to not laugh out loud at the soapy romance unfolding in front of him.

  



	2. Chapter 2

Claire had found a cheap motel, as well as a job at the bar. She was tasked with the most basic things: cleaning, serving, doing anything her manager threw at her. She loved every minute of it. Although her motel room was small and smelled suspicious, it was what she needed. Cas had called her a few times. After letting it go to voicemail the first three times, she finally got irritated enough to pick up the damn phone. 

"What?" she said tersely into the phone. Maybe she was being rude, but she didn't owe Cas anything. To her, their parting of ways on the highway was indefinite, and definitely something she'd rather not recall so soon.

"I just... I just thought I'd check up on you. See how you're doing, and all that." Cas said awkwardly. Claire sighed and closed her eyes, irritation slowly being replaced by an indescribable combination of guilt and stubborn bitterness.

"Well, that's not your job. I'm doing fine. I have a motel room and a job." Claire said.

"Okay. That's good, I'm glad. So, uh... are you, um... making friends?" It was at this point that Claire realized Cas was just as unaccustomed to having a daughter-figure as she was to having some angel wearing her dad. She softened a bit. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to give him a hard time.

"Yeah, Castiel. What about you? How's your friend and your boyfriend?" Claire smirked to herself. The panicked silence on the other end gave Claire the impression that Cas was either rendered speechless, or that she was on speakerphone and Dean had heard that. 

"The Winchesters are doing well." Cas said after a moment.

"Great. I gotta go catch my shift, talk to you another time." Claire said quickly, hanging up as Cas said "Oh okay, take care--"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cas stood by the window, phone still in hand. Sighing,he walked out of his room and was about to make his way to the living room when he was stopped in his tracks by a call. As Dean once put it, his "angelic spidey senses" were going haywire.  _Dean_ , he thought, feeling Dean long for him from an infinite distance. Cas immediately went to Dean's room. The door was closed, so he tentatively knocked. There was no response. He opened the door to find Dean twitching in his sleep. Cas immediately recognized that Dean was having a nightmare, and a bad one. Should he intrude upon the dream and fix it? That would require use of his borrowed grace. But he didn't want to wake Dean either, seeing as the dark circles around his eyes seemed to be only getting worse. So Cas closed his eyes, and opened them to find himself in Purgatory once more. Dean's dreamed version of Purgatory was very accurate, with the stench of rotted wood and the heat from an invisible sun overpowering Cas's senses. He turned around, looking for Dean. Where could he be?  _  
_

"Cas!" Dean's voice, full of desperation, rang from the left. Cas turned to the sound, and saw Dean about a hundred feet away. But Dean wasn't facing him-- he was facing a dreamt version of Cas, with his Purgatory beard and his torn trench coat. Purgatory Cas was tied to a tree, and a demon was guarding him, gripping a menacing axe and holding it dangerously close to Purgatory Cas's neck.

"Ahh, Winchester. I thought I'd find you here. You like my bait?" the demon snarled, his black eyes gleaming as he played with the axe.

Dean was about to say something, but Cas yelled from behind him. He turned, dropped his knife in surprise, and stood, frozen and confused. The demon was shocked, too. Purgatory Cas faded as Dean took an uncertain step towards Cas. Cas ran to him, and when his hand brushed Dean's forehead, they were suddenly in a diner, surrounded by people and the sound of scraping cutlery. Dean's eyes were shut, and he was breathing heavily.

"Are you-- was that a dream? Is this a dream?" Dean asked after a few moments of this. 

"Yes to both of your fully formed questions. And I am real. I came into your dream to soothe you-- you were having a pretty bad nightmare, it seemed. I hope you don't mind my intrusion."  Cas mumbled the last sentence.

"Are you kidding-- I can handle a nightmare, Cas! Why did you burn up your grace for this?" Dean sounded angry. Cas winced. 

They were interrupted by a handsome waiter. "Hello," he beamed at them, "may I take your orders?" 

"Two burgers, please." Cas said to the waiter.

After the waiter was a safe distance away, Dean said, "That guy's good looking. I remember thinking that when I was here in the real world. Which memory is this from, by the way?"

"Flagstaff. You were 17, I believe." 

"I remember this trip, actually. Dad was hunting a shifter. It was a nasty one-- took him one month to finally track the thing down. Sammy and I ate dinner here most of the time."  Dean looked lost in thought. Then, he looked at Cas and grinned. "This place has the best chocolate milkshakes you'll ever taste." Before Cas could reply, he started coughing violently. Dean's face immediately changed into one of panic. "Cas. Cas! What do you need?" But Cas couldn't stop. Little specks of silvery blue grace flew out of his mouth as the restaurant flashed and alternated with Dean's room in the bunker. Suddenly, they were both back in the bunker. As Dean gasped awake, Cas stopped coughing and fell to the ground, unconscious. Dean jumped out of his bed and kneeled next to Cas. "Cas! Wake up!" he shook Cas's shoulders, but there was no reaction. Dean looked around his room desperately, and found what he was looking for. He grabbed a flask of holy water, and doused Cas's face with the blessed water. Cas coughed once, and opened his eyes wearily. Intense green eyes were the first thing he focused on. Then, he felt an overwhelming wave of fatigue and the green eyes were replaced with nothingness.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Claire was acting like a child and she knew it. She was eager to strike up a conversation with Alicia, but she wasn't too eager to be assertive. Besides, Alicia was always all over the place. One moment, she was chatting animatedly with a few of the bargirls-- the next moment, she would be flirting with a few frat boys. Claire had made friends, though. She frequently spent time with Chad, and he had introduced her to a few of his friends. She enjoyed their company, but Chad was always busy with school when he wasn't at work. Claire wondered for a moment if she could go back to school, maybe live a normal life. She immediately disliked the idea. She was brought back to reality by the sound of cheers.  _Oh yeah, karaoke night._ Claire thought, subconsciously scanning the bar. Her silent question was answered when Alicia jumped onto the stage and said, "I'm feeling a duet tonight." Alicia grinned cheekily at some of the suggestions. Finally, she decided on "You're the One That I Want" from  _Grease_. "Who'll be the Sandy to my Danny Zuko?" she raised her eyebrows, gesturing at her clothes-- black dress, leather jacket. Claire was taken aback when Alicia pointed at her and said, "How about you, Blondie?" Claire seemed a bit unwilling, but the cheers and the smile radiating from Alicia were compelling. Shrugging, Claire took a mike and walked up to the stage. 


End file.
